Madhya Pradesh leads in forest cover area: MoEF

According to the latest India State of Forest Report 2011, 77,700 kms (11.24 percent) of the total 6,90,899 kms of forest land in the country is in Madhya Pradesh, Ministry of Environment and Forest has said, in reply to an RTI query by Omprakash Sharma, a former BJP national council member.

As per the latest assessment report, 83,471 kms (12.05 pc) in the country is covered by very dense forest while 3,20,736 kms (46.32 pc) of land is under moderately dense forest and 2,87,820 kms ( 41.56 pc) is covered by open forest, the MoEF report said.
The report further indicated that Arunachal Pradesh with 67,410 kms under forest cover stood next to Madhya Pradesh, while Chhattisgarh stood at third position with a forest cover of 55,870 kms.

Of the total 77,700 kms of forest land in Madhya Pradesh, 6,640 kms is covered by very dense forest while 34,986 kms by moderately dense forest and 36,074 kms by open forest.

In Maharashtra, of the total 50,650 kms of forest land, a major chunk of 21,095 kms was covered by open forest, 20,815 kms under moderately dense forest and just 8,736 kms by very dense forest, the report said.

Of the country’s total geographical area of 32,87,263 kms, 21.06 percent, that is 6,92,394 kms, is covered by forest, it said.

According to the report, forest cover is below 100 kms in union territories – Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman-Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

In at least eight states, the forest cover is between 100-10,000 kms, in 14 states it is between 10,000-25,000 kms and in the rest of the states, the forest cover is above 25,000 kms, the report added.